Chicago’s Stress Positions returns with Human Zoo, a new EP dropping May 16 on Three One G Records. Recorded in March 2024 at Altered States Studio by Matt Russell (REZN, Oozing Wound, C.H.E.W., Big Laugh) and mastered by James Plotkin (Voivod, Khanate, Full of Hell), the release follows up the band’s 2023 debut LP Harsh Reality.
It includes new tracks alongside remixes from Planet B and Made by Human Hands, and continues the group’s unapologetic engagement with anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist themes.
Topics across Human Zoo include draconian abortion laws, the collapse of fading comedians in a shifting world, the legacies of Western imperialism, the genocide in Gaza, military indoctrination, and experiences of being a person of color within white-dominated subcultures.
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Formed in 2020 and comprised of three former members of C.H.E.W. with the addition of vocalist Stephanie Brooks, Stress Positions plays forward-thinking American hardcore—tight, unrelenting, and politically loaded. Their debut EP Walang Hiya dropped in 2021, with a vinyl release via Iron Lung Records in 2023.
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The title track, Human Zoo, marks a shift in their process. “The writing of this song was different for us as a lot of it came from jamming on parts until it all felt right,” says guitarist Ben Rudolph.
“We had a lot of fun working on it as it has a different vibe to a lot of the other songs on the record. A repetitive drum and bass section throughout the whole song allows the guitars to snake in and out of the rhythms while Stephanie delivers some of her most memorable vocal lines.” One of those lines cuts through like a siren: “Louder in English, louder in French, louder so we can wake up the west.”
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Early reviews have taken note of the band’s intensity and nuance. Fecking Bahamas called Brooks’s vocals “absolutely shredded” and predicted a swift rise: “She stands to be a legend in her own right.” Chicago Reader pointed to drummer Jono Giralt’s “dense, thundering” playing as the rhythmic spine, with guitars that “can jump from pulverizing to swinging like flicking a light switch.” Post-Trash added: “This is not caveman hardcore—Stress Positions play with a sense of brilliance and earthquaking dexterity.”
Human Zoo will be available digitally and on limited edition color vinyl.
Stress Positions will tour Europe and the UK in April, with US dates to follow, including a May 11 hometown show at Bottom Lounge in Chicago with Converge, Big Laugh, and Hell is Real.
Human Zoo EP was recorded by Matt Russell (REZN, OOZING WOUND, C.H.E.W., BIG LAUGH) at Altered States Studio in Chicago, March 2024. Mastered by James Plotkin (VOIVOD, KHANATE, FULL OF HELL, TRIAC, BACKSLIDER). Human Zoo will be released digitally as well as on limited edition color vinyl May 16th. Preorder, here.
Tour dates:
April 17 Brussels, BE @ Magasin 4
April 18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
April 19 Manchester, UK @ Manchester Punk Festival
April 20 Glasgow, UK @ The Hug & Pin
April 21 Newcastle, UK @ The Lubber Fiend
April 22 Bristol, UK @ Moor Brewery *
April 23 London, UK @ Moor Vaults *
April 24 Brighton, UK @ Daltons *
April 26 Hasselt, BE @ The Funhouse
* w/ Blind Girls
May 11 Chicago, IL @ Bottom lounge w/ Converge, Big laugh and Hell is Real
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